<p><LINK href="notes.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <SPAN class="big"> Body Image 201 -- FogCon 2012</span> <span class="dateline">31.03.2012 20.00h</span></p>
<ul class="taglist">
<li class="tags">
Bodies
</li>
<li class="tags">
Body Image
</li>
<li class="tags">
Social Class
</li>
<li class="tags">
Race
</li>
<li class="tags">
Species
</li>
<li class="tags">
Body Modifications
</li>
</ul>
<BR/>
<DIV class="intro">
&quot;Body image is often used as a replacement term for &quot;how I feel about my weight,&quot; but a great meany more factors impace body image: gender (of course), but also race, height, ethnicity, age, level of fitness, and more. Let's discuss how these factors affect one another, and what's involved in examining and enriching the conversation around body image.&quot;
</DIV>

<DIV class="panelists">
<ul>
<li>Aaron Spielman</li>
<li>Keffy R. M. Kehrli</li>
<li>Debbie Notkin (Mod)</li>
<li>Laurie Toby Edison
</DIV>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="notes">
<p><a href="http://laurietobyedison.com/discuss/">Edison, Laurie, and Debbie Notkin. Body Impolitic Blog</a></p>
<h2 id="body-image">Body Image</h2>
<p>Body image can include age, weight, race, body mods</p>
<p>There are invisibility issues as one ages:</p>
<ul>
<li>race</li>
<li>shade of color</li>
<li>hair</li>
<li>perceptions of biracial</li>
<li>many others <a href="http://voices.yahoo.com/black-girl-white-doll-starts-home-201090.html">Black Girl, White Doll</a> Kira Davis repeated study in which black girls come to chose white dolls as pretty.</li>
</ul>
<p>Bulchari (?), &quot;Asian Jesus&quot;</p>
<p>Not everyone who identifies as <em>x</em> wants what cultures defines as <em>x</em>.</p>
<p>Identity issues are ongoing, not a single point in time.</p>
<p>People expect an 'idealized' form, which individuals won't 'measure up to'.</p>
<p>Our body images are dependent on cultural norms.</p>
<p>&quot;Helpfulness&quot; is often the definition of exclusion -- it is direct by what epople are afraid of, directed by 'this makes me uncomfortable'. See 'concerned trolling'.</p>
<p>Few will speak about how their body feels. Image is divorced from feeling and tied to looks, and bouncing things off of others.</p>
<p>Medical professionals argue <em>argumentum ad verecundiam</em> (appeal to authority), but the patient <em>can</em> push back. But some won't (for many reasons).</p>
<p>It is better to err on the side of not giving unsolicited advice.</p>
<p>&quot;Why aren't you thinking about this thing that makes me uncomfortable?&quot;</p>
<p>Reactions change in conext of body image of those ar ound one (e.g., different race, age).</p>
<p>Policing of who one can be and be with is a power issue.</p>
<p>Outlaw bodies, which do not meet (some) social conventions.</p>
<p>Misread of body language</p>
<p>Ageing and body image is a huge issue.</p>
<p>There's a presumption of choice in being outside the 'social norm'.</p>
<p>Invisiblity is threatening.</p>
<p>There are a wide variety of ways to take up space.</p>
<p>Removing expectations is a lot of work -- but how much one wants to do that varies (a lot on privlege).</p>
<p>Where you are in relationship to a power structure determines how much and what work you must do to pass/be accepted.</p>
<p>Reverse helpfulness</p>
<p>&quot;Acting White&quot; -- one is seen as denying one's heritage -- but also as complicit at the same time. There is a big political component.</p>
<p>The point is to police people, not to make people conform.</p>
<p>There's anger at &quot;passing&quot; as dominant culture. It is all about power.</p>
<p>It is difficult to come to terms with one's privlege.</p>
<p>&quot;If you want to change it, you must hate hate it.&quot; -- many people</p>
One never stops learning, there are always pieces to learn about.
</DIV>



